The winners will receive the money in three annual installments of $35,000. A condition of the grant is that the writers work during the three years with a nonprofit organization to develop programs to increase public appreciation for contemporary literature.

The winners are:

Elizabeth Egloff of Nyack, N.Y. Author of five plays, most recently "The Devils," an adaptation of the Dostoyevsky novel. With the New York Shakespeare Festival, she is to establish a writing workshop for the chronically ill.

John Rolfe Gardner of Middleburg, Va. Author of two short-story collections and three novels, including "In the Heart of the Whole World" (Knopf) and a novella. With the Wooly Mammoth Theater in Washington, he will present a series of programs of dramatized short fiction.

Laura Jensen of Tacoma, Wash. Author of eight books of poetry, most recently "Shelter" (Dragon Gate Press). With the Tacoma Arts Commission, she will organize a series of monthly readings and performances that pair well-known and local poets.

Adrienne Kennedy of Manhattan. Author of eight plays, including "Funnyhouse of the Negro." With the Adrienne Kennedy Society of Cleveland, she will help establish an arts and culture program for children belonging to minority groups at an inner-city school in Cleveland.

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Bapsi Sidhwa of Houston. Author of five novels, including "Cracking India" (Milkweed Editions). With the Houston Branch of the Asia Society, he will coordinate four annual public readings and discussions on the cultures of South Asia.

Geoffrey Ward of Manhattan. Author of a two-volume biography on Franklin D. Roosevelt's early years, two books on India and the script for the PBS series "The Civil War." With the New York Society Library, he will give three annual lectures on biography writing.

Rosanna Warren of Needham, Mass. Poet, translator, professor of English at Boston University, poetry editor of the Partisan Review. Her most recent poetry collection is "Stained Glass" (Norton). With the Prison Education Program of Boston University, she will teach a weekly writing seminar and establish an accredited creative writing course at three Massachusetts prisons.

Roberta Hill Whiteman of Madison, Wis. Poet whose second poetry collection, "Philadelphia Flowers" (Holy Cow Press), is to be published this year. With Honor, a Milwaukee organization that promotes better understanding between American Indians and other Americans, she will be the host for an annual series exploring the Oneida traditions of storytelling and contemporary literary forms.

Tobias Wolff of Syracuse, N.Y. Novelist and nonfiction writer, author of "The Barracks Thief" (Bantam) and "This Boy's Life" (HarperCollins). With the Onondaga County Public Library in Syracuse, he will present three annual panel discussions on issues of privacy, access to information and freedom of speech.

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A version of this article appears in print on January 6, 1994, on Page C00012 of the National edition with the headline: 9 Writers Get $105,000 Each To Help Promote Literature. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe